Processing devices, such as microcontrollers, may have embedded processors, memories, and special function analog circuits. Typical analog circuits found in microcontrollers include Continuous Time (CT) amplifiers having preset functions with given functional parameters. For instance, a CT analog amplifier may be a fixed function circuit, such as a voltage amplifier, in which certain parameters, such as gain or bandwidth may be changed or altered.
Switched Capacitor (SC) analog circuits are also frequently incorporated into microcontroller designs. A SC analog circuit may be more versatile than CT analog circuits in that it may be possible to alter certain circuit functions as well as the parameters of the circuit function. However, both CT and SC analog circuits found in current microcontrollers cannot generally be dynamically programmed (e.g., programmed “on-the-fly”).
Several other design considerations related to microcontroller utilization either go unaddressed, or require separate functionalities to enable them. For instance, existing designs do not offer a programmable analog circuit that may be used to implement various functions on the same semiconductor chip. As a result, realization of an analog function may require fixed functional analog blocks. If a microcontroller design is to include multiple analog functions, then each of the analog functions may require a separate fixed functional analog circuit requiring additional space on the semiconductor chip and additional complexity with regard to the semiconductor chip design. Further, existing microcontroller realizations generally require pre-programming and cannot be dynamically programmed.